Someone needs to remind Paul Ryan you can’t spell compassion on a calculator

HELEN:

Margaret, when you hear a fool talking nonsense you can either call them on their bullshit or just shake your head and smile. Clearly I am the former which gets me into trouble and I need remind myself that maybe I should be a little more of the latter. It was nice to see Joe Biden has already figured that out. God love him, I thought he did well considering he had to be having a Déjà vu evening. Paul Ryan, like Sarah Palin, is difficult to suffer.

While I watched the debate, I often wished that Joe would stop smiling at Ryan and just reach across the table and slap the shit out of him. But, like I said, the Vice President is wiser than this old broad. Just like Palin before him, Ryan believes he has all the answers. Unlike Palin, Ryan is smart enough that he should know better.

Now I am sure comparing Paul Ryan to Sarah Palin is a stretch for some but when you are as old as Margaret and me you see these things a little more clearly. Nothing is more apparent to an older person than a younger person blinded by their own youth. With age comes wisdom. If you doubt me, just wait.

Four years ago, Palin debated Biden and painted the world in black and white – oil and snow. This time Ryan painted it in red and black – debits and credits. Everything gets all summed up in rows and columns where nothing matters but the bottom line. Life has yet to throw him any problem that can’t be solved with a calculator. During the debate, Ryan seemed to boil almost everything down to how much something costs. And the only thing that doesn’t seem to cost too much to Ryan is the price of war. I found that odd considering how tightly he wraps himself in his religious beliefs… which we’ll get to in a bit.

What does it say about the Republican Party that despite our being the richest country on the planet, all they can worry about is how expensive it is to take care of our elderly, our sick and our less fortunate? What kind of statement are they making when they focus almost exclusively on how much richer we could all be if we just spend a little less money on the sick and the elderly? There are more billionaires in America than in the next 10 richest countries combined. We are actually millionaires when it comes to the number of millionaires with almost 5 million Americans having that distinction – more than the next 10 countries combined. But the way Ryan describes it you would never know that the tax burden for American workers is one of the lowest on Earth… or that our defense budget is ten times greater than the next closest country.

The federal budget that Ryan apparently keeps next to his bible has a revenue line of more than $2 trillion dollars. That would be a two followed by twelve zeros. Twelve. It seems to me that Ryan should have a whole lot more than Medicare and Social Security to discuss before he gets to that last zero. We are debating the price of Medicare and Social Security but not the cost of war. I guess that’s why I am not a math person. The bottom line has never had all the answers for me.

All in all, I thought it was a good debate, but the point in the evening that had me on the edge of my seat was near the end when Martha Raddatz asked the two men how their Catholic faith affects their politics.

Ryan seemed not to understand the concept of a separation of church and state despite his infatuation with Iran – a country that clearly can’t separate the two. I think his exact words were: “I don’t see how a person can separate their public life from their private life or from their faith.” As a good Catholic he doesn’t believe in abortion or birth control and can’t separate that from his political life. Four times he has voted to defund Planned Parenthood, and his proposed budget would completely defund birth control, STD screenings, and cancer screenings for low-income women available under Title X.

Compare Ryan’s answer to that of the elder statesman sitting to his right: “My religion defines who I am, and I’ve been a practicing Catholic my whole life… But I refuse to impose it on equally devout Christians and Muslims and Jews, and I just refuse to impose that on others, unlike my friend here, the — the congressman.”

I know Biden can’t exactly say what I can. That’s the curse of being a politician. So I am happy to say it here for him…

Mr. Ryan. You seem like a nice guy. Given a little time your heart might actually catch up to your brain. Until then, kindly take your spreadsheets, your bottom line and your religious intolerance and shove them up your ass. I mean it. Really.

MARGARET:

Helen, honey, at times like these I am reminded why we are friends. Bottom line for me – you’re the tops. And to smiling Joe Biden I say – my husband is asleep by 9 and the back door is unlocked.

I read a lot of blogs lately and your own is one of the best. I like reading you clear as well as well crafted. Your web page goes straight to my bookmarks. I got some good inspirational ideas reading this.

Absolutely–Ryan lost the election for Romney the minute he mentioned that his faith and government policy cannot be separated. Thank Gawd for VP Biden who has his own beliefs but knows it’s wrong for government to impose anyone’s religious beliefs on others.

Robert –
I was hoping this article would lead to some discussion. Don’t always understand what I read and have no one to discuss it with. Realized Ryan’s plan was a “set up” from the beginning if this information is correct. Obama has a plan which is encouraging after hearing so many questioning whether he knew what he was doing. What I do know this is not what I learned about how American government and democracy works from a Citizen Education class Mr. Williams taught in 1957. IMO we/me/America are f**ked if Romney gets elected and will just take a little longer if Obama wins. This is no longer about we the people. I wondered what others thought about it.

Cynthia, thanks for the link. I read it and must say I’m still confused on what to anticipate between the two. I wish someone like Bill Moyers would have the author on his show to explain his observations, sometimes I can better understand lengthy content when the author is interviewed. I kind of get the drift that the tax cuts will be allowed to expire if Obama wins and not if Romney wins, which means if Obama wins, there’s going to be lots of money to cover the deficit and not so if Romney wins? How about you, what’s your take.

Robert, I don’t disagree wih your assessment. That is why we need election reform so that any deserving candidate can stand a chance. Right now, both sides are beholden to their contributors, yes, very true unfortunately. I still prefer the side that cares about social issues, to the me, me, and only me and mine side.

Hi, Long-named person (Karen) – I have to wonder why “Sonia” is having such a hard time with this, despite several very courteous suggestions given to her about what “she” might do from several posters.

HTG, I’m starting to see trolls everywhere, and I think I’m right. I live in CT, and use comcast for my internet, TV, and home phone. Ten minutes after I paid my bill on line, I got some weird email asking me to re-submit my payment information or I would be shut off from their services. Yeah; right; I’m going to do that. Send my payment info to some place that has “asia” in the return address. NOT. Called comcast, and they said they’d been getting stuff like this all day. Never worse than recently.

It’s just not that hard to figure out how to stop getting emails from a blog, especially this one. It’s very well set-up, and options are always available.

Thanks, Matthew! Wish you could come by and help another senior do her job. (You already do plenty; not to worry.)

Why is a human life so special? +/-98% of humans conceived are simply the result of sex – due to love, fun, drunk, lust, incest, or rape. Humans sell children for the sex trade; force the female human into prostitution; own another human for labor. Humans kill over a piece of land, resources, color of skin, culture, religion, sexual orientation or because one feels another might threaten them. Humans design weapons – Nukes, landmines, Napalm, chemical, drones, tanks or a weapon that shoot a hundred rounds a minute all of which are capable of killing or maiming a handful or hundreds of thousands humans. Humans torture, starve, bully, beat, abuse, imprison other humans. Humans are destroying the very world they live in for money, power or greed. And all these humans began as a precious fertilized egg with brain, a heart beating, and liver producing lymphocytes. But really, honestly….what is so special about a human life?

Actually, what it says is “Modify your Subscription Options”. Click on that, and you will have several choices, probably adjusting the frequency of your e-mails, all the way to unsubscribe. Please DO take care of yourself, Sonia; your repeated requests don’t make sense. If all else fails, please follow the instructions.

Hi, Sonia – I think if you go to the “unsubscribe” thing at the bottom of each post, you will find it easy. A couple of other posters have suggested this, as well. If you keep asking the same question over and over again, and don’t just hit that button, I have to wonder why you’re not taking care of yourself…

I just have to respond to something. A fourteen-year-old Pakistani girl was shot in the head BECAUSE SHE WANTED TO GO TO SCHOOL. And she’s evidently just been flown to England for further treatment. Fourteen years old. Wanted to learn… Good god. What kind of people think that wanting to learn is a crime punishable by potential death?

Those people are among us, as well, here, today, in the US of A. Probes into vaginas; “forcible rape”; “unladylike behavior,” and so on…

I’m making dinner, and I want to throw up. I’m tired of being a good girl.

Easier, thanks for the compliment. I think Obama is more of a blue dog than many want to admit. In the business world and DC, often times deals are done behind the scenes, so politicians can save their public face and appear to have not got what they wanted, but behind closed doors, they’re high five’n each other as both achieved mutual satisfaction. Where Obama and the dems stand out is their position on social issues, which is where the parties mostly differ. Beyond that, they’re very similar. You didn’t see Obama’s DOJ perp walk any of the big bank CEO’s and never will. You can’t tell me they didn’t know what was going on. They took out insurance CDO’s) fully well knowing those loans would default. That was where AIG came in and Fannie/Freddie too… the people running those organizations had to know they were being set up to fail, but Obama will never go after any big contributor to the political machine.. We the people have yet to realize, we’re screwed but many have a sinking feeling… The fiscal cliff will come soon enough. I’m estimating around 2016 to 2018 at this time, but I remain open minded to adjustments to that time frame… Market corrections will occur in that timeframe but I think something bigger is coming in about 5 years. Possibly a re-setting of the economy and dollar value. I’ll stop my predictions there as I don’t want to spook people too much..

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Obama win this election. I think the republicans really want Jeb Bush in 2016 which means they’d have to find a way to get Romney out of office and that wouldn’t look good (I could be wrong so vigilance is still necessary). Most people don’t realize, the dems ceded power to the republicans many years back. The attitude in DC is, the dems had their way to show how they would run the country with FDR and his policies that lasted for about 50 years, so the repubs were given (actually demanded) the reign’s to show how they would handle the economy and the social needs the next 50 years through about 2030… you don’t see the dems fighting that hard for that reason. They can’t, they need corporate dollars to run their re-election campaigns too and the people and unions just don’t have enough power anymore to make a difference. The goals of both parties is to play their bases with just enough red meat to keep us civil. All opposition organizations are heavily infiltrated with informants, so the only real threats come from the lone wolf types or the black ops meant to herd us further into submission.

Yes, but that’s the whole point: Sid should not have HER decisions limited by what YOU believe. If she gets raped, SHE needs to be in control of that situation, not Todd Akin, or Rick Perry or anon or you! Birth control is an even more private issue, and no ones employer or congressman or senator needs to be involved in any way. The drugs are LEGAL and should be available, to treat hormonal deficiecies or endometriosis or to prevent pregnancy if the principals so desire.

To borrow the Master’s own words, why don’t you worry about the beam in your own eye (nonsense gotta have a 6×6 in his) before you start digging around for the mote in your neighbor’s eye? God isn’t going to ask you to account for anyone else’s actions anyway, only your own.

Hi, Jenny – As I’m sure you know as well as anyone, abortion is a volatile issue, on both sides. (For the sake of clarity: I had one, before they were legal. I did have an IUD in place at the time, which probably lent some “medical credence”, shall we say, to the procedure – but it was an abortion, none the less. Also, I have never had the occasion to use the services of Planned Parenthood myself.)

If anyone “should” have gone through this blithely, without a care in the world, it would have been myself at the time: twenty-two years old, working in publishing and the arts in NYC; full of hippie liberalism and rising feminism; “living in sin” with my boyfriend, and thinking I was pretty darn cool.

HOWEVER… That was not the case at the time, and I think about it, once in a while, even now. Part of me longed to have a child, even in circumstances that would have made it almost impossible for me to raise him or her. I made what I thought was the best decision at the time, and, although I sometimes feel a bit wistful at the thought that a little “me” didn’t come into this world, I do not regret that decision. A bit of sorrow, yes; Regret, no. And I can live with that.

My personal experience in this matter has led me to believe that no woman undergoes an abortion without at least a little shred of regret. That doesn’t mean the decision to have one is “wrong.” Having the freedom of “choice” does not mean that the choice is made without conflict and, possibly, some anguish. There are many choices in life like that… But to not have that choice, even with all the soul-searching it may entail, is worse, in my opinion.

BTW, a “troll” is someone who spends endless time on a blog with a particular orientation – as you can see that M&H certainly have – and does nothing but oppose that orientation, often in the most annoying, repetitive, and irritating fashion. And that makes people angry – which is just what the troll most enjoys doing. It’s the troll-posting, with all its pomposity and self-righteousness, that gets people mad – not thoughtful commentary like yours.

Thanks for writing. Women are lucky to have you around when they’re bringing a new life into this world.

Robert and Pi, I admire you both. I thought there is a rift coming up! But, no, I see none really, that is how adults find common ground. Really appreciated your discussion. I believe if Obama hadn’t had to deal with “Blue Dog” Democrats, more of the liberal agenda would have been carried out for his first two years in office when both the House and the Senate were democratic. These “Blue Dog” Democrats only care about themselves and their upcoming reelections and would not support many of the bills introduced in the House especially, favoring any kind of programs from the left, that would have helped create jobs. As Colorado Blue pointed out, the executive branch only implements the bills voted by Congress and for the past two years, the obtstructionists agenda won the day. There is so little the President could do when bills are fillibustered.

They report 3% of services are abortions. 10% of clients recieve them.That’s over 300,000 babies aborted in 2009. Even those numbers are too much. I will “butt out” now. I am in no way trying to interfere in anyone’s life. Just trying to stand up for those who can’t. What is a “troll” anyway? I’m just reading a blog link that I recieved on facebook and offering an opinion. Again, why all the anger? I’m certainly not making up scientific facts and footage. Done.

You are neither my God, my spouse, nor my doctor. Butt out of my life and worry about your own. Your “medical” observations are quite unfamiliar and I too am a clinician so I have a certain level of experience in this matter. Please parrot your abortion taking points on another blog. We’ve got enough trolls here already.

I have 6 beautiful children. I care about women and children. If you think they are a clump of cells then you are blind, literally or figuratively. The research is there. Cutting edge research that filmed a fetus at 5weeks after conception. Clearly a human. A brain present, a heart beating,a liver producing lymphocytes. Have you seen an abortion? Some involve dismemberment. All involve an act of violence against a baby. I am a labor and delivery nurse and have also worked in postpartum and newborn nursery. I have seen women give birth to babies that they almost aborted due to down syndrome and the baby did not end up having the syndrome. Women should not fall prey to the “women’s rights” argument. The whole, “you can’t tell me what I can and can’t do with my body.” What kind of argument is that? I just don’t get it. A right to kill your child? I also do not get how you can compare a baby to a cancerous tumor. There is no need to get ugly with someone who has a differing opinion than yours. I also wonder where all this anger comes from? I’m the one who believes it is murder and hurting women. I should be the angry one.

Anon, maybe one day when you carry and give birth and raise a child, somebody might care what you think.
We are talking about a little clump of cells. Now what if one day you woke up with a tumor on your face. It wont kill you but it will grow until it consumes your face, and what if I felt that those living cells were a gift from god, and passed laws that prevented you and your family from doing anything about it.
How might you like those apples tumor face?

Loved the comment about leaving the door unlocked! Ryan doesn’t have enough life experience to be a credible candidate; he needs to be defeated in his own congressional race. Having only worked as a congressman has kept him a bubble — he needs to get a job!

Imposing religious views on others is wrong but imposing death on babies is also. Planned Parenthood should be defunded. They lie to young women about the effects of abortion. There are other ways to help women.

Terri- I agree . I don’t have TV but was at friend’s house on Friday who was tuned into that silly Fox rude-and-disrespectful routine on TV.
Had to excuse myself and go outside in the snow to laugh and cool off .

Robert- interesting isn’t it?
We pretty much move goal posts around these last and many years and announce left and right and all in relation to that- that outfit doesn’t move the basic lines. It moves the people and policies around to reflect shifts in ideas and actions against a static backdrop.
Pretty much agree with your take on the “where” Mr Obama has run his administration from- which pretty much blows the socialist-communist-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it crap of those just to the right of him completely out of the water.
That doesn’t seem to get through though.Sigh.
Over the years, I come in , repeatedly, almost falling off the chart on lower left quadrant. World is never going to shift very far my direction but sure would like to see it shift some back towards a real center.

My thoughts on the VP debate: Joe Biden gave a master class in non-verbal communication. I think his smile was intended to communicate that he wasn’t buying the BS that Ryan was selling. It’s amusing to listen to the Faux News people act so shocked and dismayed that Biden was being “rude” and “disrespectful.” That’s rich coming from people who have been calling Obama a failure and weak.

M&H HELP YOU NEED TO ADDRESS THIS NEW ISSUE. BIG REPUBLICANS THREATENING THEIR EMPLOYEES WITH LOSS OF JOB IF OBAMA WINS THAT HAS TO BE ILLEGAL. KOCH ? IS HE REALLY GOING TO LOSE MONEY? I DON’T THINK SO. AGGGGGGG THIS MAKE ME SO MAD

Thank goodness Ambassador Stevens’ father has finally spoken up for Romney to stop politicizing his son’s death! I’ve wondered and wondered how it must feel to lose your son in such a tragic way, then to have a dumb-ass politician run around exploiting the murder, obviously happy this happened so that he could use it for his own agenda which is to stick it to Obama. Yeah, such a “compassionate” person you are. Now SHUT UP about it Romney and move on!!

Helen, thanks for pointing out what should be obivious to anyone who watched the debate. Maybe Joe shouldn’t have laughed, but I was sitting here shaking my head and wishing I could smack Ryan with his smug face. Have you ever noticed that he has just that one expression and has to raise his eyebrows because . . . I’ve never figured out why he does that. It doesn’t help. Why the one expression with his lips all thin and tight? I think it’s the only way he knows to look like he’s paying attention and knows what is going on. Someone should tell him it’s not working.

Colorado Blue and Gato, thanks for the reminders about all the issues. I knew some about the Koch Brothers and their crazy dad, but you pointed out even more. I just saw a thing from NPR that Koch Industries has sent out an email to their 50,000 employees telling them who they should vote for. I know that’s legal (I guess), but it shouldn’t be. It smacks of the old days when people owed everything to the Company Store and felt like they didn’t have any choice but supporting whatever the company wanted them to do.

Margaret, I agree with you about Joe and you made me giggle thinking about leaving the back door unlocked. 😉

alaskapi, I tried that little quiz. I was surprised with the response as it put me real near Ghandi. I thought I was more moderate or middle ground than that. When I saw the results for Obama and Romney, at first I was surprised but then I thought, well of course that’s where Obama would be placed. He’s what the Republicans used to be like before they got hijacked by the religious right and now the TP.

I love your irreverent sense of humor..right on! The great thing is that not all of us white haired, older generation people have gotten close minded and tight fisted! We don’t have the attitude that we have ours and don’t care about all the others…

Hi, Robert – You’ve obviously spent a lot more time inside the machine than I have. I’m just forcing myself to spend time on the phone and knocking on doors for my CT Senate candidate, Chris Murphy, who’s running against a multi-millionaire wrestling executive…

Agree that everyone succors from the same teat; well said. And that teat belongs to the corporate cow. (And no, I certainly don’t think corporations are “people”! The Citizens United decision was, IMHO, one of the greatest travesties foisted on this nation in recent, and not-so-recent, history – especially since it was based on some faulty “precedent” noted in headnotes by a SCOTUS secretary decades ago, who then went on to work for the very railroad that had been involved in the case. Additional irony: Milton Friedman based his entire economic philosophy, and his justification that corporations had no “social responsibility”, on the fact that he believed that corporations are NOT “people.” He must be twirling in his grave these days…)

But still, I sense some real difference between Obama and Romney. Romney seems torn by some inner conflicts that Obama doesn’t seem to have. Additionally, the Dems really LIKE Obama, even those who have been disappointed that he hasn’t channeled FDR as much as they’d hoped he would. The GOP doesn’t seem to really care much for Romney; he’s just what they’ve got – what they’ve settled for. He has to know that, on some level. He’s just so danged uncomfortable with all of this, consistently. He’s either withdrawn or manic.

Once again, way to go, Helen…….spot on !!! Margaret, your “zingers” are way better than that fool Romney.

Let’s look at what we have, right now, Oct 2012: We have the lowest tax rate since 1917; a stock market hovering near 14 ( in 2007 it was near 5 ); a housing market that is on the rise in most states —-can’t help it if red states with red governors haven’t quite caught up to my state; more people are working, that’s means ENTERING the work force not leaving it—-Repubs don’t want to see Americans succeed so they have decided to scream ‘cooking the books’—-something THEY are VERY familiar with; one war has been ended with draw-down in Afghanistan to begin in 2014—OMG!! We can’t be without a war, can we? Republicans can’t stand it because how will their pals and Ryan’s family make money if we aren’t fighting someone and having to go in with defense contractors from our military industrial complex? Repubs plan to spend TRILLIONS which will go directly into the military industrial complex, something the pentagon says they do not need—-but, Paul Ryan’s family and his pals NEED that money to make them even richer. The Repubs will send YOUR children, grandchildren, moms, dad, uncles, aunts and cousins to be killed without a second thought. Their children won’t be the ones going. RICH PEOPLES’ KIDS DON’T GO TO WAR. George W. Bush did not go to war, he just liked wearing the outfits.

If you add up the 4 1/2 trillion going for supposed 20% tax cuts, but refusing to say how they will pay for it and the 30 TRILLION they plan to put into the military industrial complex for the war(s) they plan to start and can’t explain how they plan to pay for it, why are they whining about spending? It takes Paul Ryan too long to do the math—-winky, winky, you stupid middle class citizens will be paying for it. End of story.

The economy is slowly on the rise despite the best efforts of the Republicans in Congress to derail everything. Apparently none of the Repub supporters are smarter than a 5th grader because every kid who has learned about how our Democratic government works knows that the President does not make the laws nor does he allocate money to implement those laws. That is the job of the legislative branch of our government: The House and the Senate. For the last 3 1/2 years this bunch of extremist right-wing, Tea Bagging Repubs have filibustered every bill that would have helped to fast track our economy and help the middle class. REPUBLICANS WANT AMERICANS TO FAIL. In 2009 they went in front of the world and announced that their only goal through 2012 was to disrupt the presidency of Barack Obama. When asked they said that they did not care about the economy or the middle class. The needs of the American people were not important to them. Their only focus was jamming things up in the House and the Senate. This Republican congress has filibustered more bills than any in the history of our country. REPUBLICANS WANT AMERICANS TO FAIL.

The job of the Executive branch of government, the president, is to make sure the laws are carried out and to handle foreign policy. Barack Obama is one of THE most respected leaders in the world. The president of Israel, not to be confused with the figure head prime minister, said President Obama has spent more time with him than any other US president has. It was crystal clear during the debates that President Obama knows how to deal with world leaders who are difficult, deal in misdirection and are manipulative. You stop talking and arguing because you can’t debate a LIAR.
Romney has already pissed of England, France, Spain and the Middle East talking out of both sides of his ass and his running mate Ryan only knows enough about the world to know that you can hide your money in The Caymen Islands. What a pair !!!!!

Talk about not qualified to run: Ryan blah blahed about how they will be bi-partisan. They don’t even know what that word means. The only reaching across the aisle for them would be to reach across and choke a Democrat. Romney, as a failed governor of Massachusetts, was so partisan that he vetoed over 800 bills passed by his Democratic state legislature. Bi-partisan my butt !!! Romney was voted out after one term, leaving with a 32% approval rating and an economy ranked 47th. That was the last time this guy had a job !!!! Really !!!!!!

Believe me, Media Moguls and Big business have an agenda. The Koch Brothers who are largely responsible for the creation of The Tea Party and whose racist father founded The John Birch Society are THE most scary part of all of it. They head up the group of billionaires who desire to tear down our democracy in favor of a theocratic oligarchy ——get your dictionaries out and look those two words up. Former CEO of GE, Jack Welch, said during the Republican primaries that they didn’t care who the candidate was AS LONG AS THEY COULD MANIPULATE HIM. No shit Sherlock. They’ve got Romney out there flip flopping depending on the audience, lying and misdirecting under the tutelage of Carl Rove—–you remember him, the mastermind behind George W. Bush.

The Koch Brothers along with Jack Welch, Carl Rove and the rest of the Republican billionaires want POWER WITHOUT RESPONSIBILITY. They have their puppets in Romney and Ryan. Don’t be so stupid, Republican middle class. There is nothing in this for you, NOTHING. They say, elect us and THEN we will tell you the truth. NO, THAT IS NOT OK. How can you trust someone who changes his mind as often as he changes his magic underwear?? If you have a brain and an ounce of self respect you will NOT vote for these two selfish, lying Republican puppets.

Hi, M&H – I so love your blog, and the fact that you are doing it, and all the wonderful stuff I get here, that I am jumping in myself with my own new blog at http://www.partyandsoul.wordpress.com. (Just wish I had a “Matthew” to help me with all the techie stuff!)

It’s not about politics – nobody deals with that as well as you do! Not sure quite what it’s really “about” yet, but would love to hear from any fellow porch sitters who’d like to take a look. I may even spike my lemonade from time to time, if the hour of the day seems appropriate. (It’s always 5:00 somewhere, as Jimmy Buffett likes to say…)

Thanks for the inspiration… And everything you have the guts to keep doing.

Robert-😀 Rev Jackson drives me crazy but, no.
Andrew Jackson, President of the United States , proponent of white equality and superiority of whites over all others, and “Indian Removal ” architect.
I’ve been a registered Dem for 40 years and watched the shift towards what you experienced with much dismay.
I remember the exact moment I knew Lisa Murkowski was likely going to win our US Senate seat in the last election . I did the votebuilder data entry for my borough for the party and saw an abrupt shift in likely voter responses to the Democratic candidate.
The party folks ignored me and while the (extraordinary) candidate did very, very well in debates and public forums too many Dems and independents allowed themselves to be scared the TP candidate Joe Miller (nutball city) would win if they didn’t jump ship and “pool” with old-fashioned Rs and vote for Ms Murkowski.
Joe Miller never did gain any more ground than the tight TP and evangelical base he had which delivered the upset to Ms Murkowski in the primary but people piddled all over themselves in fear he might win per her super PAC’s message.
We had , finally after way too many years , an incredible candidate in Mr McAdams – in ways people outside Alaska might not understand- and people voting their fears gave us a mediocre voice in the Senate. Pffft!
The “debriefing” conference calls after the campaign ended up being the usual reminder to me that the state Democratic Party is pretty spineless . One of the big questions was why did/how did rural Alaska (code for Alaska Native constituency ) go almost completely to Murkowski and how did the Dems lose rural areas which used to be traditionally Dem.
I got shut up when I tried to explain some of the shifts and reasons because it was too lefty and non-moderate to talk about race, Native Corporations, and such like.
Incredibly, the Dem candidate was very explicit and sensible on those issues and impressed much of the Native community greatly but folks freaked over Joe Miller and voted for Murkowski.
And we didn’t get to talk about how to expand the openings the candidate had made and urged- no sirree. The Party plugged up its ears and la la la-ed its way through discussing why it was defeated. Double Pfft!

alaskapi, I registered as a democrat in 2004 and became a neighborhood rep (don’t remember the formal title) for the election season but changed back to independent after the election. I pissed off party affiliates too. I think they wanted me to be a grunt for the standard party business and I thought they should be more aggressive with the expectations of our elected representatives. I thought we should employ tactics like the religious right and say you want our vote, these are our expectations. After all, it seemed to work for them so I thought it could for the left. The message I got was they’re our friends, we can’t do that. So we had to tone down our request. I sensed no desire to change the way business was being done, so I gave up my position and don’t miss it. Even stopped listening to liberal radio except for Ring of Fire, I like that show and sometimes I like to listen to Mike Malloy as he is a lefty but see’s the party’s misgiving and is quite outspoken. We need that because the party isn’t going change if everybody just keep accepting the drift to the right that the left leadership is doing economy wise. Socially, I’m fine with the left.

Hi, Rebecca – Your question wondering what Romney’s (and perhaps Ryan’s) faith might think about lying led me to the following site: http://www.mormonwicki.org/Lying_for_the_Lord. (Please note: As far as I know, this is not an “official” LDS site!) However, it has quite an extensive collection of quotes from Mormons, throughout history, commenting on this subject.

Among the quotes, “For the Mormon, loyalty and the welfare of the church are more important than the principle of honesty, and plausible denials and deception by omission are warranted by an opportunity to have the Mormon organization seen in the best possible light.”

When I was growing up in Columbus, Ohio, my family rented out a small apartment attached to our garage, over a period of several years, to many young Mormons doing their required period of missionary work. They were all fine, decent, and very personable and pleasant tenants. As you might imagine, we had many conversations with them about their faith and their missionary work. (They were always quite eager to discuss these things!)

There were many of our questions they would not answer or “explain”, saying that some things were either “sacred” or had to be taken on faith alone. (As a young Methodist, I found that hard to understand, since we seemed to have just about everything “explained” to us by our church leaders – and often!)

At the time, I knew very little about the history of the persecution of the Mormons in their early days in this country. I have since learned that they were often hounded and sometimes murdered, their property taken, their homes destroyed, their belief in, and practice of, polygamy ruled illegal, and so on – plenty of “justification” for keeping some things secret, from their point of view, simply in order to survive.

If one were confronted by a lunatic with a knife, and ordered, “Tell me where your sister is, because I am going to kill her,” one might well feel justified in saying, “I have no idea where she is,” even if one knew she was locked in the bathroom ten feet away.

I think that the issue of Romney’s “position” in his Church, and the role he has been charged to take in service to that Church, is something that has not been discussed at all during this campaign – and I think it surely should be. Many people believe that the LDS Church has long wished to be fully accepted as a “legitimate” religion in this country, and that having a Mormon in the White House would do much toward accomplishing that goal. Their legitimacy is not of concern to me, but the possibility of ANY religion working IN SECRECY to accomplish such a goal certainly IS… Because I have no idea what effect that might have on the resulting Presidency, should it come to pass. i do not mean to suggest that such is the goal of all Mormons, by any means – but if it is something that’s driving Mitt Romney, that I would certainly like to know.

I do know that the LDS Church “secretly” worked very hard, and funneled in plenty of cash, to try to defeat the acceptance of gay marriage in California – a “moral issue” that gave them great creds with the larger conservative Christian population, who now seem to be supporting Romney on the basis of only those of his “beliefs” that he has chosen to reveal. His insistence on secrecy in so many areas has been continually disturbing to me, and to many. It still is.

Robert-
No, I am not looking for someone to disagree with.
I am explicitly disagreeing with the argument that both parties are the same.
There are multiple areas they appear the same including the tendency to play lackey to corporate interests routine. The differences are important though.
It is no small matter that the Democratic Party leadership is by and large Centrist now but if you are unaffiliated it is perhaps not important to you to make the distinctions.
However,unlike you, I am a registered Democrat. I tick my party off pretty regularly and vice versa. Sometimes I swear I only stay in the Party to piss off Jackson’s genocidal ghost ( I’m Alaska Native ) whenever someone decides to yap on about his equality-for-all crap.
While most people may cluster around some notion of center or moderate, I am neither. Difference I have with the far right is that I understand I am a tiny minority over here in far left land while so many of those folks insist they are the majority.
Difference I have with the middle is that I think the lack of attention to distinctions and details has contributed to the overall drift to the neocon right.

alaskapi, I get the feeling you’re looking for someone to disagree with. I’m not that person. I suspect we both believe very similar things. Both parties are in bed with the corporations, so the only way they can differentiate themselves is through social issues. Isn’t that what your implying too? By the way, I’m not a lefty. I’m a non-party affiliated voter. I’m somewhere in the middle, where I think most people are.

While it suits many on the left to decide there is no longer a difference between the national parties, it does not suit me.
The Centrist philosophy has pretty effectively marginalized the far left and leaves the little-bit-left feeling betrayed (like you?) but we can’t talk about it?
Pfft!

alaskapi, you say, “The DLC which espouses Third Way, Centrist ideology and is largely the face of the formal Democratic Party now is distinctly different than the Republican (neocon v neoliberalism v theocratic impulse type internal struggles aside) ideology.”

Rephrase that in terms most people can interpret and If you’re claiming Obama’s not following the Neocon agenda, the conversations over.

Robert- I respectfully disagree with you
“The only difference in the two parties now, is what they say to rally their bases. ”
The DLC which espouses Third Way, Centrist ideology and is largely the face of the formal Democratic Party now is distinctly different than the Republican (neocon v neoliberalism v theocratic impulse type internal struggles aside) ideology.
We make a major mistake by assuming Centrist means moderate. It does not. I knew Mr Obama was a Centrist when I voted for him last time and I know it this time- I will vote for him again although I am firmly anti Centrist.
(Sorry, Donna🙂 I really am anti-Centrist )
As a far left libertarian, I am alternately amused and irritated by the R insistence that Mr Obama is a socialist and anti-capitalist. Pffft!
Mr Obama would have been a Republican pre- Reagan/Nixon.

Sonia-
Go to the bottom of one of the emailed comments and find the “unsubscribe” link . M&H don’t subscribe you, WordPress , the blogging platform, does.
Wordpress will check one or both boxes to the left of the “post comment” button by default if you aren’t careful about UN-checking them.

gato, Great post. My dabblings into the political machine showed me what you observed about Romney, his ascent to the presidency was a well planned long term process. (Did you notice how the Mormon Church became involved in the fight against gay marriage in California? That was how they endeared themselves to the Evangelicals, by implying our nemesis is yours too, can we find common ground together?), but I suspect so was Obama’s introduction in 2004 at the Democratic Party Convention. It wasn’t a coincidence he became the 2008 choice for the presidency. Who outside of Illinois residents had heard of him before that? Obviously, he’d caught the eye of some powerful interests and was groomed for his next role. Here in the state I live in, I became aware of the adult children of two highers ups in both the Democratic and Republican Parties, who were being groomed since childhood for political stardom, so I’m sure that happens in every state.

My limited experience in the world of politics and activism, has caused me to stay as far away as possible from any further active affiliations. Although I think government is a good thing, as structure and organization is important in any civilized society, I found many of the acquaintance’s from those associations either consumed with ideological ambition and/or righteousness or acting as an informant gathering data for the various government security organizations (undercover informants) or opposition, or just another version of sheep cheer leading for the next real time savior. I found myself being the latter in 2008, as I thought Obama was going to be the next FDR. He wasn’t though. He is more like a continuation of Clinton’s DLC and in some regards, like GWB as he has maintained many of the directions GW began and even made them more robust.

The only difference in the two parties now, is what they say to rally their bases. Both carry the torch for their biggest financial donors whose interests are not typically aligned with those of the average Joe and Jane. They both take succor from the same nipple. The system has been horribly corrupted and not in favor of the people unless you consider corporations people to.

Awesome, as usual. Ryan uses his ‘faith’ to justify an awful lot of very unchristian things. He wants to beat plowshares into another piggy-bank full of money for himself, and to hell wit anyone less fortunate than he is.

Good points @gatodicima. I think when one looks at all the corporate failures in the world, the idea that we should prioritize everything is completely ridiculous. If government is inefficient and/or ineffective, let’s make changes to how it does, not throw it off to the private world so that more profits can be taken.

Well, Gato (and yes, the abbreviation is fine; sorry, I made that name up on another site as I was staring at something in confusion, and it was what came out of my mouth) I was trying to not sound like I had it in personally for Romney and Ryan as much as for their policies. But hey, you make such a convincing case that I should be against them personally as well as politically, I’m certainly not going to argue with you.

I completely agree with you that Romney has been bought and sold so many times over that even he can’t keep track of it any more. I don’t think he’s even able to remember any more what his position du jour is on most issues, he flops around so consistently, trying to please whoever he’s trying to please at that moment. And Ryan’s so focused on himself and where he’s going that he reminds me of what a friend of mine once said, referring to an inflated sense of self-worth: “I may not not much, but I’m all I think about!” He’s so focused on how much power he can grab in his own hands that he’s lost any shred of compassion that he ever had for anybody else, as Helen pointed out so beautifully. He’s reduced us all to numbers and statistics.

So thank you for calling me on my attempt to be charitable to them. Heck, they don’t have even the faintest trace of charity left in their hearts for me or anyone else who isn’t a right-wing religiously conservative white male, so why should I waste any on them?

I am going to most respectfully disagree with you about the Romneys and the Ryans being “fundamentally nice people.” They may once have been; now they’ve sold themselves to some very high bidders. I got into this with a friend of a friend recently, who said the same thing about their basically being decent. I’d just met the woman, and a fine mind she is… And found myself saying, rather suddenly, and quite forcefully, to her, “I don’t think so.”

When a decent person sells his or her soul to the highest bidder, for whatever reason, then he or she has been bought. He or she has sold anything of value that they may have held inside, and has become beholden to whomever has made the purchase. And those buyers will exact performance for their price.

I’ve been thinking about Romney for quite a while now, wondering why on earth he is doing something that so apparently makes him incredibly uncomfortable most of the time. He seems a man torn in two, between his faith, and his money people. My guess is that his Church has urged him to do this, for their benefit, and – in order to do it – he’s had to recruit some big bucks. Now the providers of those bucks may be in conflict with his faith. How can he answer to both, simultaneously?

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO, my sister-in-law worked with an LDS family in Massachusetts, who had a troubled child. She worked closely with the child and the parents in their home, for several months. She said they were indeed lovely people. At one point – FIFTEEN YEARS AGO – the mother asked my sister-in-law, “Have you ever heard of Mitt Romney?” My sister-in-law said she hadn’t. The mother replied, “Well, you should, because he’s going to be President some day.” FIFTEEN YEARS AGO, this was on the agenda… Hearing that sent a cold chill through me. This is not just some regular guy who sat at his kitchen table, one evening not long ago, with his wife, thinking he could do good things for this country. This is a guy who has been groomed, trained, and convinced for his entire life, that he is The One chosen to do this.

If Romney had any core left, he would never have made that speech to his private donors about 47% of the country being slackers. That’s what they wanted to hear, so that’s what he said. That’s whoring, plain and simple – even if you’re whoring for your Church. As the old saying goes, I think by Mark Twain in a bar, “We already know what you are. Now all we’re discussing is price.” Romney’s price is astronomical. And that’s what he’s used to.

Ryan, in my opinion, is just an eager suckin’ up wannabe, so full of himself, already bought by Wall Street (you can check his record), thinking he’s hot stuff, because the money people have told him he is, because they’ve found him useful for the time being. And he is young enough, and arrogant enough, in his youth, to believe them, silly twit that he is. Palin believed that, too. Neither one of them is remotely capable of being a heartbeat away from the Presidency of this country.

The “doughy white guys” know full well that this election is close to their last chance, if not THE last chance, for them to get their “mitts” in full control of the Congress, the Supreme Court, and – they hope – the Presidency, because they know, quite correctly, that four years from now the demographics of this country will make it impossible for them to win much of anything. They have been working ceaselessly to rearrange voting districts to favor themselves, and to disenfranchise those who might vote against them. (Fortunately, those disenfranchisement efforts – in the name of the mathematically nonexistent “voter fraud” – have been almost unanimously shot down for this election.) If they win in November, they will have four years to roll back every social program that has been put in place over the last decades; to start as many new wars as they want; to take women’s rights back at least forty years; to totally deregulate every financial institution; to put in place that accursed pipeline; to give big pharma and insurance companies and agribusiness everything they want; and to gut every environmental regulation they can find… And they know it will take years for anything to be reinstated. For them, this is now or never.

Helen, I have been underestimating you. I have always pegged you as just one naturally intelligent, insightful woman. You obviously have been doing your research and this post shows how well you combine your natural wit, clever phrasing and ACTUAL research/facts. I am all the more informed as a result. You are now not only officially the OLD LADY I aspire to be, but also the BLOGGER I aspire to be! KUDOS!

Helen, thank you so much for pointing out SO clearly my major concern with the current Republican candidates: their inability to even grasp the concept of separation of church and state. It’s not even that they disagree, they simply fail to even recognize that basic constitutional principle. There is little I find more frightening than right-wing religious conservatives dictating what I and my daughter can — or, more likely, can’t — do with our bodies. And once women’s bodies are re-subjugated, what’s next, forcing women back out of the workforce? Are they looking forward to an America that’s more like a Taliban-run Afghanistan? Because it’s frighteningly close from here to there — it’s a slippery slope that starts with ignoring one basic constitutional principle, to the detriment of them all. We need voices like yours to keep reminding the American public what the true dangers ahead are!

Maybe I exaggerate, but not by nearly as much as I wish I were. I’m sure that the Ryans and the Romneys are fundamentally very nice people, but by their blindness to the concept of keeping their individual religious beliefs out of government for all of America could lead this country down a very, very dangerous path. I just hope that enough voters in this country realize that to stop it before it goes any farther.

Who says libruls cain’t do math??! Go girl go! There was considerable dissent amongst the bishops about birth control before Paul VI made his final negative pronouncement. Assail that little hypocrite on his own ground! SUCH a good catholic! Boehner too! Faugh!

As I remember the priests quietly allowed use of the pill or IUD etc. if one claimed the desire to space one’s children (well actually it was to limit the number but who’s counting). Assuming the Ryans are like many intelligent couples who wish to control the number of children one would believe it is possible the Ryans used some form of reliable birth control. So I ask which life or faith is he talking about…the public or the very private?

“But the fact that only three children have emerged in 12 years of marriage is puzzling. Figures from the respected Contraceptive Technology website show that 85 percent of women in couples where no contraceptive method is used for a year will experience an unintended pregnancy. If the Ryans have been using so-called “natural family planning”, also known as “fertility awareness-based methods,” then their chances of an unintended pregnancy in a given year would have been 25 percent. Had Paul Ryan used a condom, his wife’s chance of an unintended pregnancy in a year would be 15 percent. In short, it is hard to understand how this marriage of 12 years has produced only 3 children, unless this couple have used more reliable methods of birth control. (It is, of course, possible that the Ryans have experienced infertility issues, in which case they have my sincere sympathy).”

Love your takes on the VP debates – you don’t disappoint. Thank you Helen & Margaret for another great post.

@Gato: You bring up a good point. Privatized government services will not get cheaper or more efficient for we the people. After all, business makes no secret of the fact they are only in it for the bottom line of money. The whole concept of public service is being eroded by what’s in it for me thinking.

Hi, again, Joe – Wasn’t there some (too brief) flap a while ago about Romney buying Facebook “likes”? It was questioned because his “likes” jumped up by several thousand in a twenty-four hour period.

What is it that these people WANT? I keep asking myself that… The only answer I can come up with is “control.” I have neighbors across the street (GREAT neighbors, I will add, and we’ve agreed never to talk about politics) who are convinced that Obama wants to make the US of A into a socialist country. I think they should be equally worried about Fascism. They seem to prefer to have their lives run by ConAgra and Citibank, rather than the dreaded “bunch of bureaucrats.” I am at a loss as to why they’d prefer that.

We, around here, are TOTALLY middle class. I don’t know why my neighbors don’t think they’re about to get screwed, continually and worse, along with all the rest of us. It’s a mystery…

These debates are a total waste of time for everyone concerned–the debaters, their preparers and those of us stupid enough to watch them. This latest debate by Biden and Ryan is a perfect illustration of the ridiculousness of these debates. If you follow the fact checkers, you will see that both guys lied and/or didn’t know the facts. It is, furthermore, impossible to discuss complicated issues like the US’s health care policy and its foreign policy in the 2 minutes or so each candidate has.

Hey sidney,
Thanks for the lemonade. I wasn’t trying to interfere in anyone else’s business, but fair is fair. Everyone here is free to sy whatever they want here, but as far as UAW is concerned he can certainly dish it out, so he needs to be able to take it.

Hi, Joe – Yeah; I’ve wondered that, too. And I think they maybe get a bonus if they can elicit a couple of cuss words in any reply. Simple, common cuss words: 5 points. Toilet words: 7 points. Gross genitalia slang: 15 points!

And there must also be extra points for bloviating, for expressing sympathy for the ill-founded reasoning of the respondent; and so on. (And no points taken off for ellipses, typos, or repetitiveness.) “Such a deal”, as my Jewish former mother-in-law so often said!

HTG, maybe some day someone will discover the dark, cubicle-filled room where these people ply their trade. Probably not before November 6, though, darn it!

And get ready for a response something like this: “Once again, you left-wing liberals cannot supply answers of the sort you seek from me. I have done my research, and have responded as kindly as I can, given the arrogant nature of all of you. You listen only to those with opinions with which you are comfortable, and cannot tolerate the input of intelligent controversy. I do this only so you cannot say you were not sufficiently warned.”

Hey Joe…is that really true? Is there someone who actually pays trolls to spew ignorant hate? I’ve seen that mentioned many times on many different sites, and I have always wondered if there was any truth to it?

I have not been following the comments very closely so I may have missed how much money Anonymous gets for every right wing troll comment that is printed on Margaret & Helen’s web site? I guess it is better than he/she ( I am not sure because like Mitt everything is secret ) being on unemployment.

HI, Sidney – Don’t worry; I’m not going anywhere! (Sometimes I just get off on a rant, and KNOW I should just hit the ol’ Delete button, because I’m usually sure what’s going to be coming back from the usual sources. Must say that I find some of the gutter anatomical expressions pretty creepy. Limited vocabulary there; must have learned that kind of stuff in the outhouse, reading porn after all the pages of the 1900 Sears catalog were used up…)

Lordy, you wonder if people speak at home the way they feel free to do here… And, if they do, I can only hope their partners give it right back to them.

Terri…..thank you for expressing your opinion regarding the statement that Donna made to me about “not wanting to hear it again” considering I don’t recall pointing out UAWs ignorant rude remarks in the first place. I was thrown off when she called a post that Gato made….silly. I love Gato”‘ posts, she is intelligent, thoughtful, funny and smart and I was concerned that “slap down” would of discouraged he from participating on this forum.
After her remarks UAW and anon were emboldened. Three nasty posts concerning me and one nasty on to Gato followed soon after her remarks.
I really don’t give a shit if she likes UAW. It means nothing to me. She has a soft spot for this dude and that is between them, but the stupidity and nastiness of his statements does not have to be ignored by anyone who wants to respond to them. UAW threatened to cut open by BALL SACK, and he was not done, he threatened to cut open my families BALL SACKS. If that is part of her warm and fuzzy relationship with this pig…well, who am I to judge? I’m not going anywhere and I am so happy to see that Gato is back. This board is full of intelligent political savvy posters, and I have enjoyed their opinions and learned from many, especially whirled pea, who always provides a link to something interesting. So Terri, I’ll get us some lemonade and we will still keep on rockin

@Anonymous the cowardly at 10:38×2: Yes, VP Joe, two people: intelligent AND truthful. And direct, consistent, resourceful, decent, funny, and doesn’t want a country where faith dictates government like Iran and a lot of the Middle East. I guess that makes him an Army of a Man. Better than a lying sociopathic selfish toddler like Ryan.

Hi Donna,
Of course, no feud. I’m sorry I offended you. To be clear, I was responding to this comment you made to sidney “You’ve told me that you disagree–I don’t need to hear it again.” That prompted me to think that you do not always need to defend UAW, which you have done on many occasions. We know you like him but UAW seems quite capable of defending himself, and when you rush to defend him it seems like you are taking sides and it seems like a criticism of the other party. And for the sake of accuracy, I do not bash UAW. We pretty much ignore each other which suits both of us fine, I think. Thanks.

Helen, I will be looking for your tweets on Tuesday for the next debate of the presidentials. What you said during the VP debates was smarter than what all the pundits said on twitter. Keep them coming!!

Okay, this old broad needed that. Ryan is a fool, but a dangerous one and we’re not doing such a good job of convincing those others of that. As much fun as we have with those amateur pols who think they could do better at presiding over an entire country, I wish we could all figure out which words would do their magic and bring them to our side.

Joe Biden was terrific, and darn that Margaret for enticing him to her doorstep. Wish I’d thought of that first.

Helen and Margaret, thanks for so succinctly defining the Republican Party and what it has become, the party of how many war fronts can we run at one time and at the expense of the American people. What’s so sad is that nearly 50%, maybe more this election, will not see it that way.

I’d also like to refer the thoughtful people on this board, to the most recent edition of Bill Moyer’s show. He discusses with a bi-partisan duo of concerned citizens, the purchasing of our judicial system. The far right as well as the corporations and their money, have taken over both houses of our government and to some extent the executive branch, and are now going after control of the judicial system. Once the courts are converted, the people stand no chance of ever getting a fair trial as the outcomes will be made in judgement to who has the most money to influence that decision. We are well on our way to being a fascist nation, if you define fascism as being the merging of government and the corporations that profit from such an arrangement. We have history to show us where that leads. We are well on our way down that path.

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful – both of you! You make me proud to be a feisty old broad, too. Loved your comment about waiting to see that age brings wisdom. THANK YOU BOTH – and Matthew, and all the great posters on the porch.

Again, I have to laugh, this time at Anonymous’s comments at 10:38. During the presidentail debate last week I wanted Obama to lean over and slap the smirk off Romney’s face. Romney had split into 2 people, from conservative to moderate. That’s also unfair and confusing. Which Romney would people be voting for?? Would be really really great if we got real facts during these debates, and details. Both sides. Shame we need to rely on fact checkers.

Joe did well, what is so sad is how the right wing members are so intense in their criticisms of him…….they are showing not only to be sore losers but a very rude and ignorant people. The left wing will just say “we lost, eat our lumps and move on. We don’t blame moderators, press…..we do call a lie a lie. Oh these people have so much to learn ladies and with age and experience they will. They will learn more from what they do wrong than they will ever do by what they do right……….

Technically true, but the numbers still have to add up. You can’t manufacture money from thin air; oh, you can just print more, but it has less value, so you are back where you started, except for the inflation it creates stealing everything you have earned and saved, and transferring its value to the government.

A liberal commented the other day (not sure who it was) that “liberals do not do math.”

This 65-year-old broad would do either one of them in a skinny minute (Biden or Obama). What handsome, compassionate, smart, confident men they are. Mary Ann Morse, what a wonderful analogy of their warmth versus the sharp knives in the drawer. So true.

Brilliant. I just woke up and the first thing I read is both you posts. Margaret, girl, you quiet little bird…that was quite a chirp! I had no idea you two were on twitter. I will remedy that right now!
Thank you ladies, and may God grant you both VERY LONG LIVES!

Love to read the voice(s) of reason.
But do you think that it is purely “youth” that separates Ryan from reality? By reality I mean that life is not all money money money NOR me me me me. I ponder the origination of character flaws in so many people who follow the “Got MINE” philosophy.

I think that they are still picking up little pieces of Doogie Hauser in that debate hall. Smokin’ Joe deconstructed him completely and field-dressed him on the spot — much like what he did to Queen Esther of the Tundra four years ago.
The right-wing Twitterverse, rant-radio and FoxSnooze are exploding over this, of course, but I am so over them all crying “victim” and looking for sympathy when their hollow shells are pierced.
I applaud Biden for calling Doogie out on his bullshit. Personally, there isn’t enough laughter in politics these days and I thank him for bringing it back. While we’re at it, The MittWit, Chinless Mitch McConnell and Eric “Can’t”or (and oh so many others) could use some good old-fashioned derision as well. Perhaps Joe has started a healthy and useful trend!

Helen..you are so damn smart. We would only need a little more then half of our registered voters to be as smart as you, and this country would be OK. That should happen easily, but for some reason stupidity, ignorance and greed causes the facts and the truth to remain outside so many people’s mental capabilities. And the most amazing thing is that this gaggle of wealthy people, who in theory don’t even need a government at all, have convinced so many low information voters to to see things from their point of view…..these people who don’t have a pot to piss in…have been assured that THEY don’t deserve a working government either. Just battle ships, bombs and blood and war.

Must confess that I fell asleep at 7 PM Thursday evening and did not wake up until 11. Missed the debate. Have seen plenty of pix of Biden since then. Its amazing how silver hair can steal the camera! Have only this morning seen more pix of onl Ryan in the debate. My God! My paperboy is older than he is, but definitely way younger than Biden. I think that’s my beef with Ryan. He has lived his young life in a bubble. When I look at his “plan” I am struck by the evident lack of risk assessment and management necessary to keep that plan from devastating the lives of millions of people. Wonks, my dear Helen and Margaret, are just not good at jigsaw puzzles. I also think they have never heard of the domino effect or would even recognize a domino if it bit them! Ah, but the “purity” of his plan! Purity my foot! Just ain’t no purity when its vouchers to replace Medicare!

I have to laugh! Until I read the comments, I thought Helen was telling us how safe she felt in Obama’s admin, leaving the back door unlocked with her husband asleep. I see I’m just getting too old for frisky!! LOL LOL Joe Biden and Barack Obama have a warmth that shines through their smiles and personalities. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are like the sharp knives I have in my drawer. You be real careful when handling and don’t be surprised when they draw blood!

Margaret and Helen, I think you’re terrific and the voice of reason. Republicans clearly only see the “bottom line” and not the people who their way of thinking would affect. I’m a “kid” in my 60’s but I want to be you when I grow up. By the way, my name is Eileen which is a derivative from the name Helen! Bless you both for the insights and plain unvarnished truth you speak.

How I love thee, let me count the ways. I’m not sure I could be making it through this political season with my sanity and my blood pressure intact if it weren’t for you dames. You ARE the child in the crowd yelling, “But the emporer HAS no clothes!”